Our favourite snowdrop, the robust Galanthus elwesii, starts popping it’s head up in early January, letting you know that spring will be on it’s way. This variety is so very tidy, with neat glaucous leaves and perfect white and green, honey scented flowers. Best in dappled shade, plant as bulbs in autumn or ‘in the green’ […]
Anyone who spends some time digging in their garden will most likely have enjoyed the company of a robin, the official gardener’s friend. They follow you about, being all plump and cute and looking for anything tasty you might have unearthed. It almost makes you forget your back hurts. Although we are having a mild […]
Chimonanthus praecox is a beautiful addition to your winter border. Delicate sweet and spicy scented flowers appear on bare branches from December to February followed by slightly scented leaves. This variety has pale yellow, almost translucent flowers with striking maroon interiors. They can take a few years to flower but plant them against a warm […]
Now the majority of flowering plants have died back and the garden is settling in for winter, you begin to appreciate those in your garden that have year round interest, whether that is winter flower, coloured stems, interesting leaves or bark. One tree that never disappoints is Prunus serrula or Tibetan Cherry. White blossom in spring, fruit and […]
Now is the perfect time to be planting your bulbs. Tulipa ‘Orange Emperor’ and Allium ‘Forelock’ are amongst our favourites this year. We can’t wait to see them come up in spring and early summer after all the back breaking bulb planting.
Yellow is a flower colour often overlooked in the garden, we are frequently asked for “anything but yellow” in our planting plans. This rose is an example of how rewarding a splash of yellow can be. Rosa ‘Graham Thomas’ is a beautiful old fashioned repeat bloomer that gives and gives from late spring through to […]
For those who love striking colours in the garden, this month’s pick is Crocosmia ‘Emberglow’. A smaller version of ‘Lucifer’ this deciduous perennial has an upright architectural form and offers eye catching, blazing red flowers in late summer and autumn. A must have for any hot planting plan.
I fell in love with Dungeness a few years ago. On my first visit I couldn’t take in the vast strangeness of the place, the stretching shingle, seemingly washed up fishing boats, mini dwellings that look as though they have been collected on the beach along with the treasures and shells they are decorated with. […]
Looking at their best this month are the lofty Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’. A wonderfully structural, upright grass with so many uses in the garden, including providing winter interest. The flower stems look particularly stunning when they fade to yellow.
We can’t ignore the impressive flowers out this month of Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’. One of our very favourite hydrangeas, this late summer bloomer produces HUGE globes of small white flowers which fade through shades of green throughout autumn. An upright shrub, it looks magnificent in any partly shady border but also striking in groups.